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Those calls had to be made by him, recapitulate some voices in La Moneda by breaking down how it was possible to achieve today the image with pleasure of the triumph of a President who, after 24 hours just back from his vacation, appears at the forefront of a kind of consensus to push the return to classes in person. And including – now yes – the College of Teachers and its president, Carlos Díaz, despite all the conflict that this had caused. The photo taken yesterday afternoon in La Moneda, after more than two hours of meeting with the (expanded) Education Advisory Council, had one of its keys in the two people who escorted Sebastián Piñera: the president of the Medical College, Izkia Sichez, and the Ombudsman for Children, Patricia muñoz.
With both he himself spoke separatelyThey count inside and outside the government. It was part of a political operation that, according to some Palace advisers, had been weaving for at least a couple of weeks, when the Governor was on vacation in the south. There were several calls and steps in which at least four ministers also made an effort – the spokesman Jaime Bellolio, the Segpres Juan José Ossa, the Ministry of Education Raúl Figueroa and the Social Development Karla Rubilar – but the government has not wanted to give much detail of who The more he phoned who, because there is a maxim in all this that could be summed up like this: the credit goes to the President and the one who has to shine is him.
In La Moneda they hope that opening the last political year of the President thus implies also delivering a message that – despite popular support being elusive – he is still capable of bringing together different sectors, drawing consensus or at least the will to do it. That has to do with recovering valuation in various attributes. And begin to clear the discussion and controversies around the return to face-to-face classes (something “voluntary, gradual and flexible,” Piñera said today), which is and continues to be an imperative for Palacio.
“It will not be the President of the government, nor the president of the Teachers’ College, nor any authority, but the parents and guardians who will freely decide when to send their children to schools and colleges. For that, they will require the support and information of all the leaders, ”said the President after the meeting, which lasted from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
According to some accounts from today’s summit, the agreements – the main one was to guarantee that all schools are open on March 1 – were reached in the last minutes, when Piñera took the floor. The majority of the more than two hours was an exchange of points of view and proposals of what was asked to be done. For example, establish a protocol of what to do in case of outbreaks in a school, the one that was requested to have before March 1. Also to clear up doubts about the phases of the Step by Step plan in which classes can be held: if in 2nd or 3rd. And a point that was key for the teachers’ union: establishing community coordination tables for the return to school. classrooms.
Among the participants who went to La Moneda today -among whom were representatives of UNESCO, municipalities, universities, Unicef, among others- they rescued not only that the College of Teachers attended and was “calmer” with what was discussed, but that, in addition, with the gesture of the house owners to arrange microphones so that after the presidential press point the guests could say what they wanted.
“We have made it clear that all of us who have sat at the table today want to return to face-to-face classes, because we know that face-to-face classes are irreplaceable. The underlying issue that we have raised, and that is debatable, are the conditions ”, was one of the things Díaz said at the exit.
In the back room of this two presidential calls weighed, something that some ministers had insisted that he do in the previous days. Having Siches and Muñoz became inevitable, if not before, when it became clear that both were quite far from aligning with Carlos Díaz, president of the College of Teachers.
While the head of the order listed reasons and conditions days ago before sitting down to discuss the return in person and his relations with the Mineduc looked tense, the head of the Medical College and the Ombudsman for Children interceded in public so that the return to classes in person it was an imperative and for this to be discussed and unravel the discussion.
Muñoz had even started his spokesperson on Thursday 17 – after meeting with Minister Raúl Figueroa and the Advisory Council – saying that “I regret that the president of the College of Teachers is not here”, because “we have many more points of agreement than of disagreement ”. Izkia Siches had already insisted last week on calling the government to set up an education table and “generate unity through conversation, active listening and evidence.”
He called the leader of the Piñera medical union on Tuesday 16, but it was because of something else: the issue of whether or not vaccines were enough, which she had made publicly present. The President then told him that the pending doses were going to arrive, and from there they passed the subject of classes.
That day, Siches insisted on setting up a table to settle the matter and even made Piñera see that the College of Teachers, despite everything, was willing to get on, but with more participatory spaces. She had already had contact with the teaching union in parallel.
As far as is known, by the time the President called Siches he had already spoken with Patricia Muñoz about this, and she was also called by at least one of the President’s collaborators.
Closing the key with both was essential, they insist in the Palace, to achieve the summit. “It was not necessary for him to call more people,” they emphasize.
But Siches also made Piñera see without reservations that until then the government was not managing this conflict well, criticized Figueroa’s role and commented that it was not possible to intend to return to face-to-face classes without the agreement of the College of Teachers. The head of Colmed has been a critical name of the government on different fronts, but here another maxim is also fulfilled: when the President calls you, even if he is not your favorite President, you answer him.
Both in Colmed and in other actors in this chapter they emphasize that in the end the direct political management was made by the President. Of course with nuances: while the government read that counting on Siches and Muñoz ended up showing that Díaz was being isolated, in sectors outside the Palace they paint that if Piñera got involved, it was also because his ministers were not achieving it.
Regarding Figueroa, in Palacio they insist that he was not on the sidelines and that he also spent calls and negotiations. According to government sources, the Minister of Education got hold of the networks that he continues to maintain with Mario Aguilar, who was Díaz’s predecessor until the beginning of January. In the end, close associates of the President insist, they mediated conversations between the minister and him to ensure that the current teacher leader would participate.
Another is the situation of Lucas Palacios (Economics), who on the same day that Piñera called Siches mixed up everything when he said that “the College of Teachers all they are looking for are arguments not to work”, of which he half said later. Not only did Siches present it to the President, but even today in La Moneda they insist that it was a mistake that could cost a lot.
So much so that in the Government House different voices insist that Palacios could well have made all these negotiations fail. When he said that, they were in the middle of negotiations, and until this morning very early in the Presidency they were awaiting whether or not it would work.
Palacios’ error, they underline in La Moneda, gave the teaching union a pretext to continue criticizing back – they came to ask for his resignation – for several days and to spread the conflict publicly, although it was negotiated in parallel.
But in the end, it is also observed, the photo was a piecemeal gain. For Muñoz, and why say Siches -after last week Michelle Bachelet “anointed” her-, because they are on the path of agreements. And for Díaz, in part, because it was not the same to appear in this alone with Figueroa, than with the entire cast.
